Wednesday, December 21, 2011

This has been one crazy year-- and the last few months, kind of the icing on the crazy cake. With unbelieveably mixed feelings, we had to close our wonderful tea house in early October. The details and "fall-out" of that process continue to unfold with no great clarity.... on the heels of the closure of the shop, my husband began a long stint of working out of town which has him in Baltimore for two week stretches back for a quick weekend, and then off again! To say that these things have been difficult on us would be a great understatement.....

With Dan out of town, i wondered if i would be able to pull off my - what is now annual- studio show and sale. This would be the 4th year, and i hated the idea of not doing it. It seemed like a tragedy to skip it-- it is, after all, really gaining some momentum now.... and my guest list is fairly long-- i didn't want to disappoint! So, unsure of whether or not i really had enough work to even justify it, and not sure how exactly i would pull it all together, i went kind of nuts getting ready. My children probably suffered the most for it.... but they are such very good sports... and actually really helped me a lot with cleaning up the house and preparing.

Somehow, it all came together. As it turns out, it was my best show yet, and i had more than enough work to keep it looking bountiful and well stocked! I sold lots of work-- many paintings included! -- and this is really the most wonderful part to me-- the paintings. because that is what i love the most!! In the next couple of days, i will start to inventory what is left and begin packing things away. I have a few "appointments" set up for folks who want to do a bit of last minute shopping, and then i will move forward with putting our house back together and beginning to work on creating more work! My goal this year is to try to stay ahead of the busiest show seasons.... the key element here is to stay/ get busy working again right now and adding to the existing inventory that i have and just to keep churning it out and stocking it away. I would really like to avoid the pitfall that seems to trap me every year; where the winter months seem to pass by without my doing a great amount of work and not getting down to business in the studio (in a serious way) until sometime in the spring. This year i will strive to keep up with production all along, thereby (hopefully) avoiding the summer stress-out that i usually end up in. we'll see how it goes :o)

Here are a couple of photos from the show before i take it down. To see more, check out the album that i posted on my facebook business page: chARiTy elise studio show 2011

the last photo shows a couple of the paintings that sold. so excited to get back to some painting!

Friday, June 24, 2011

The summer is in full swing and the crunch of preparations for fall shows is on.... Normally i start panicking around March and try to dive into big-time production around that time.... Now, with the tea-house and other responsibilities added to the mix, March, April and May came and went, and here we are nearing the end of june.... starting to feel the pinch of the "closeness" of fall, and specifically the Yellow Daisy Festival; my biggest show of the year and the beginning of my craziest season. So, these days i am diving into studio work as often and as much as possible. These last few weeks have been packed with all sorts of different work. My wooden magnets with funny/ inspirational quotes/ messages/ pictures are sort of a bread-and-butter item for me, and so i try to get oodles of those made before anything else.

so many bits of paper to cut....

The photo above shows a step mid-way in the process of creating these magnets..... Another item on the list this week are bud vases. On Monday and Tuesday i spent the day (s) making as many as i could from an entire 25 lb. bag of clay.... aching legs, feet and wrists and 263 bud vases later.....

They don't look like much now.... but after some cleaning up, sponging off smoothing, under-glazing, an initial bisque firing, some staining, more wiping off, glazing on the inside and drying out, then some glazing on the outside- in many different colors.... another firing, after which i will glue super-strong magnets on the back of each and every one..... i will wind up with a tidy, colorful pile of something like these:

and on that note, there are really only a few available minutes for studio time today.... so i had better hop to it. Today i need to work on a painting- the 4th revision-- for an exciting project that i am not ready to disclose to you quite yet. stay tuned though, because i will be making a formal announcement soon. I can't wait to tell you about it!

Thursday, January 13, 2011

So, Atlanta has been hit with some snow and ice. In any other city- where there are more than 8 plows and maybe a salt truck or two... the maybe 5 inches of snow that fell on monday would be a total non-issue; dealt with on monday... a quick pass through with the plows, a scattering of salt- maybe some sand- and good to go. But here in the south, we are just not prepared for weather of this nature. It literally shuts us down. School- and all county and government agencies- has/ have been closed for the last four days. There will probably not be school again tomorrow-- and then it is the weekend! oh- and MLK day on monday- so no school then either!

I know that many people around here are getting pretty stir crazy. Admittedly, it is a little harder having children around for so many days in a row. Thank goodness my in-laws are so amazing and helpful- aaaaand- right around the corner. The children are with them for the day and having a grand ole' time. And i am here, "stuck" in the house and i couldn't be happier. Really. I could be "stuck" here for weeks on end and not have a thing to complain about. I am listing things on Etsy that i haven't been able to get around to forever; like this tray and these earrings.... and many other wonderful things!

I have also been taking photographs of many more items and editing editing editing.... as well as finishing out some other pieces so that i can run a bisque fire. Trying to stock the shop with some items that will be good for valentines day. I also just finished a painting and am beginning another right now. These paintings- the images - are intended for a very special occasion/ opportunity that i can't mention yet, but hope to be able to soon. stay tuned!

I hope you are all having a great day. If you are feeling "stuck" inside, i challenge you to do something creative. Maybe pull out some watercolors and doodle with paint... Grab a box of your kids' crayons and get down to some scribbling. Crayons are really underrated. :o)

here is a shot of our cozy, twinkly house as the snow was falling on Monday night

snow days are also great for organizing cupboards and cabinets

and for photographing the hundreds of items you have waiting to be listed in your etsy shop

my etsy shop

About Me

is an artist and designer who lives in atlanta, georgia. these days she is primarily making handbuilt and wheelthrown pottery items, jewelry and garden art, as well as painting, making things with wood and paper and getting her hands dirty with her two small children.